Instrument for breaking car-seals



(No Model.) T. A. LEYENDEOKER. INSTRUMENT FOR BREAKING CAR SEALS.

No. 605,730. Patented June 14,1898.

H mar J WITNESSES I S //v VEN ro/a Mg a- 7 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS A. LEYENDECKER, OF LAREDO, TEXAS.

INSTRUMENT FOR BREAKING CAR-"SEALS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 605,730, dated June 14, 1898.

I A li ti fil d January 25, 1898. Serial No. 667,900. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS A. LEYEN- DECKER, of Laredo, in the county of Webb and State of Texas, have, invented certain new and useful Improvements in Instruments for Breaking Oar-Seals, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention is an instrument for breaking the lead seals of railway freight-cars; and the invention is particularly adapted for use in connection with the keystoneseal, although it may be used in other connections.

This specification is the disclosure of one form of my invention, while the claim defines the actual scope thereof. 1

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a side elevation of the invention, showing it in use in connectionwith the keystone-seal. Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation of the-invention". Fig. 3 is'an enlarged top plan view, and Fig. 4 is an enlarged'bottom plan view.

The tool has a shank or handle a, at one end of which two fiat legs I) and b are formed. These legs are arranged with their flat faces opposite each other, and consequently in different though approximately parallel planes.

The leg I) is of slightly less than half the length of the leg I). Both legs aredisposed at an obtuse angle to the shank or handle a. At a point just beyond the outer end of the leg I) the leg Z) is provided with a crook or offsetc, from which the leg tapers slightly and continues outward, its .extremity being widened and formed with a roll d. This roll 61 is adapted to bear against the side of the car toform a fulcrum or swinging point for the tool.

Fig. 1 shows the use of the invention, and there it will be seen that to break a seal the leg 21 is engaged with the inner side of the seal, so that a portion of the seal will be received between the two legs. The leg I) being now in engagement with the side of the car, by drawing outward and downward the handle or shank a the seal will be broken.

During this operation the tool swings on the,

fulcrum or extremity d of the leg b.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent An instrument for breaking car-seals, the instrument having a handle provided with two legs extendingin approximate parallelism with each other and disposed at an obtuse angle "to' the handle, one of said legs being fiat and being longer than the other leg, and having its outer end provided with a roll forming a fulcrum whereon the tool may rock, the said flat leg being disposed so that the roll will engage with the surface of the car at all points along the length of the roll.

THOMAS A. LEYENDEOKER.

Witnesses:

JOHN F. MULLALLY, THo. W. Donn. 

